UN says fair Afghan election 'impossible' before July

The UN peacekeeping chief has said it will be "almost impossible" to hold a fair election in Afghanistan before July, months after the early spring vote that President Hamid Karzai is seeking.

6:30AM GMT 03 Mar 2009

Alain Le Roy said on Monday that the United Nations believes the Aug 20 date set by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission in January is "very credible and very reasonable." An earlier vote would be "very difficult to organise" mostly for logistical and technical reasons but also because of security needs, he said.

Mr Karzai suddenly issued a decree on Saturday directing the election commission to set a date that adheres to the Afghan constitution, which calls for a vote 30 to 60 days before May 22 when the president's five-year term expires.

Political opponents who know they can't win the presidency if a vote is held next month have accused Mr Karzai of "sabotage". The move was widely viewed in Kabul as a political gambit to give Karzai the high ground in a tussle for power after May 22, when opponents say they will no longer recognise him as president.

The presidential election is likely to be the most dangerous and challenging since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban's Islamist regime in 2001. The militant movement, which has regained control of large swathes of the country, said it will not participate – and warned other Afghans not to either.

The international community, led by the United Nations, ran the presidential election in 2004 that brought Mr Karzai to power and the government has asked the U.N. to provide technical expertise to the Afghan commission for this year's election.